Research

Our aim is to become a partner of choice, providing R&D support on innovative materials and components for the mining sector. Our focus is on alloy innovation. With the end of the mining “super‐cycle”, miners are facing considerable cost pressure and in these tough operating conditions, important efficiencies and cost reductions can be realised by extending component life.

Through the Centre, we hope to transform Australia into a producer of the world’s best performance in highly customised long‐life, wear resistant mining components. The Centre will thereby train a generation of innovation leaders for the Mining, Equipment and Technology Services (METS) sector.

To achieve this, we are exploiting recent developments in steel technology (bainitic steels), emerging manufacturing methods (3D printing) and novel alloy compositions (high entropy alloys) to produce wear resistant components. We also use modelling, sensing and advanced testing techniques to increase our understanding and predict the behaviour of the equipment in service.

Our students are exposed to a wide range of academic and industrial environments, while conducting their research work within three major themes:

Alloy development for wear resistance.

Manufacturing innovations for cost effective production.

Modelling and systems understanding for optimal material selection.

We are always happy to be presented with new challenges and to explore collaboration opportunities with industry. The training program includes a number of industry placements with our partner organisations, but we are constantly expanding our network of collaborators. For more information, please contact us

mineAlloy is a new centre led by Deakin University, formed with a $4.8 million grant from the Australian Research Council under its Industrial Transformation Training Centre scheme, and supported by a cross-section of industry and research partners.